Cooperstown came to West Chester for a night, at least. On Nov. 3, the Courage and Character
Foundation hosted eight Hall of Fame players and Pete Rose as part of
the Johnny Bench and Friends fundraiser in West Chester.

When the Reds announced that Joey Votto
needed knee surgery and was going to miss a month, most thought the
best-case scenario would be the first-place Reds treading water and
hopefully keeping the Pirates and Cardinals at bay. And even that was
seen as a bit optimistic.

During a baseball season, 40 games isn’t
enough to tell the whole story, but it should be enough to get an idea
where it’s going. Except when it isn’t — like with this season’s
installment of the Cincinnati Reds.

Since a pack of five coyotes was first seen in the Northern
Kentucky city in January 2011, residents have reported seeing them a
few more times. A police spokesperson strongly urged
visitors and residents of Park Hills to remain vigilant and not to
loiter in front of any roadside signs promising “Free Bird Seed” until
the coyote threat has been neutralized.

One of the great beauties of baseball is
that one pitch can mean everything and one game can mean nothing. The
Reds are off to a slow start, winning seven of their first 16 games.
It’s not ideal and wins in April count as much as wins in September, but
it’s baseball — every team loses roughly one-third of its games.

Team sits in second place despite anemic offense

With all the talent the Reds have on their roster the bats
just aren’t blazing like we all suspected they would. The Reds rank 27th or lower in four major offensive categories, including runs scored — a woeful
31 runs in 10 games. Luckily for the Reds, outside their current opponent — St.
Louis — nobody in the division can win games, either. The Reds sit in second
place along with Houston and Milwaukee. The one thing Dusty’s boys can’t afford is to
continue with the Drew Stubbs special — swinging and missing. If the Cardinals
sweep the Reds — which is looking probable — then they would be six games back,
not insurmountable but far from ideal.A healthy Brandon Phillips will go a long way in getting
putting runs on the board. Wilson Valdez and Willie Harris did a commendable
job in their time replacing Phillips, but any extended absence from Phillips
results in a significant drop in offensive production. In addition to Phillips
recovering from a hamstring injury, much of the starting lineup will have to
overcome a plague-like slump. Jay Bruce, Ryan Ludwick, Devin Mesoraco, Ryan
Hanigan, Drew Stubbs and Scott Rolen are all hitting .205 or worse. Production
from the cleanup spot is hurting badly; Rolen has no dingers and only two
extra-base hits. Joey Votto and Zack Cozart — the only to hitting worth a damn — need production behind them if the reds are going to reverse their current
run scoring trend.The Reds have Bronson Arroyo taking the hill tonight against
the only St. Louis starter without a win this year, Adam Wainwright (0-2.)
Wainwright enters the game with an 11.42 era, if the Reds can’t stop their
anemic offensive output against Wainwright it may be a long next couple of
weeks.

Nielsen says we’re the smallest market in
Major League Baseball, but last week Bob Castellini sent the message
that the Cincinnati Reds are no longer a small-market team, signing Joey
Votto to a 10-year, $225 million extension that brings his contract to
more than $250 million over the next 12 seasons.